


Sixteen Percent Tears

by WritingThroughFandoms



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Gavin Reed, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Twins, Deviancy, Human Nines, Human RK900, M/M, Pre-Slash, Protective Hank Anderson, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, injured gavin reed, injured rk900, rk900 is Richard Niles Stern
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 02:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18356324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingThroughFandoms/pseuds/WritingThroughFandoms
Summary: Detective Richard Niles Stern, aka 'Nines', has only ever seen two emotions that commonly filtered through his android companion's processors; anger, and passiveness. He found through different situations, Gavin is able to express more, but god, he never thought he'd see the day the GV500 would actually cry on him.





	Sixteen Percent Tears

     Gavin hardly derived from the emotions anger and complacent. He was either passive to listen to the information being delivered, or highly confrontational with either Richard or any of the criminals they had to give chase to. The statuesque detective hardly ever seen the GV500 stray from those two, but on the very, very rare occasions they had--he was knocked off his feet.

  
     The first emotion aside from those typical two was contemplative. He, of course, was a super computer, he just didn't act like he would be into intellectual conversations. Turns out, that was Rich's mistake, and he was actually glad to be wrong. Gavin dived deep into topics that normally no one else would entertain for long, and that really dug into Richard's interests. They had talks more often during the deep night, when GV500 felt what was suspected to be loneliness, and Richard was suffering from a harsher case of stressed-induced insomnia. It became a precious time between the two.

  
     The second one was happiness. That had been the hardest to capture. Gavin had walls of not only coding, but walls that separated his vulnerability from the rest of the world. No one had ever gotten emotionally close to Gavin except the celebrity he used to bodyguard for upon first activating--Elijah Kamski, but he was next to impossible to speak to, even more so than Gavin. So, Richard Niles Stern, or 'Nines' to Connor and Hank, was honored when he got to glimpse at the first honest smile the android had displayed.

  
     It had been unintentional, of course. Richard didn't know that Gavin adored cats, and the elegant Siamese Nines kept at his home for company had the android just in love. It was supposed to be a private moment between the android and the feline, but Richard had come back too early, and had paused at the door frame to take in the sight of Gavin grinning to innocently as Sass sniffed his palm, taking a moment to scan him over with her brilliant baby blues before nudging passed Gavin's hand and straight into his chest, purring for immediate affection. That was what caused Gavin to chuckle, hugging the feline close and smiling so wide that Richard thought he was the one malfunctioning.

  
     Of course, he acted like he had seen nothing, much to Gavin's suspicion, but they never spoke of it. Gavin could continue to coddle and coo at Richard's cat while the detective got to sneak glances.

  
     The next emotions would be ones Nines decided he would rather never see on the GV500's face if he could help it. Fear and sorrow.

  
     They had a mission go wrong in a way of sorts. Details aside, one thing led to Richard being slammed over the head violently with some sort of object wrapped in cloth. He had crumpled so fast that it was shocking to Gavin, who had turned sharply to meet the unfocused gaze of a passing out Richard, and then the world had gone black. He had recognized that emotion in the android, and knew that his thirium pump had sped up, for the constriction of those bionic pupils, and the horrified expression told Richard it was an ambush. If only he hadn't been attacked to unconsciousness, then he would've been able to help Gavin.

  
     He didn't awaken until it was all over. He was sitting on a stretcher at the crime scene, dried blood matting his hair to his scalp and a raging headache forming at the base of his skull. His fellow officers, including a very panic induced brother and his father figure, all began surrounding him with noise and speech that he just couldn't define for the life of him. Connor was the first who made sense. "I can't believe you're awake!" Their hands interlaced, a squeeze from the doe-eyed brother grounded the other. Nines smiled, his gaze going blurry for a moment before it focused once more. Hank swore, complaining that the twins were going to set him in his grave ten years early. Officer Miller and a medic interrupted, insisting they needed to check over Richard, who frowned almost immediately.

  
     "I am fine. Maybe a concussion and some trauma, but otherwise stable. Where is Gavin?" Everyone smiled, something Richard found common when he mentioned his android companion. "I am assuming he is safe? But where is he?" Richard moved to sit up, only causing the medic to fret, but Connor assisted his brother, mentioning to the medic that is he was restrained, it wouldn't help anything.

  
     "GV500 saved you, man. He's being looked over by Chen until we can get someone from Cyberlife over. Just shot through the calf and shoulder, but otherwise he seems fine." Richard looked over Connor's shoulder, where the android was sitting on the ground, legs spread out, a small pool of thirium beneath his left leg, and the same blood staining his normally white hoodie. His LED was blaring red, eyes wide but glaring at the dirt under him. Chen was kneeling beside him, talking gently but not receiving any answers. She looked worried, but kept her arms tucked to herself.

  
     "He's frightened," he murmured under his breath, but his brother looked to him in slight surprise. "Let me go see him, then we can go," he compromised, seeing Miller and the medic's disapproval, Hank's disbelief, and then Connor's tender smile. His twin understood that Gavin was important to him, has helped with a lot of mentality issues Richard suffered from due to their mother's untimely death, followed by her work being exploited by the very man who produced Gavin. Richard was supposed to follow in his mother's footsteps, but after her accident and everything being ripped away from him, he simply slumped into the DPD with his brother, where they met a very grouchy, but eager to teach Hank Anderson. He took them both under his wing, and the rest is history.

  
     Now, Hank has Connor as a partner until he retires from the force, and Richard has Gavin as his. Both pairs worked flawlessly together, and were Detroit's most valuable force. There wasn't a case they failed yet.  
Connor assisted Nines, assuring the medic that they wouldn't be gone long, and let Hank get debriefed by Miller, who was the one who answered Gavin's distress call. Their voices faded into the background, and soon Nines was being lowered to kneel before Gavin's feet, Connor giving them some respectful space by waiting at the nearby patrol car. He beckoned Officer Chen, who followed with a worrisome look thrown over her shoulder.  
"Gavin." A jerk, probably a startup of his motion systems, and then the android was looking up in awe to Richard. He was silent, his lips parted. "Would you like to ride with me to the hospital?"

  
     Silence. Several beats of it, in fact. Then, Richard saw it forming. "Connor, Chen, why don't you go help Hank take down notes," Richard said, hearing the two cough and shuffle, obviously uncomfortable with the sight unfolding. Gavin, the asshat of an android who lived to hunt perps of Detroit, was tearing up at the sight of his injured partner smiling so tenderly towards him. Those normally plain gray hues were so shiny with moisture, the artifical tears pooling so delicately against his eyeball, no doubt blurring his vision. A sniff, so human of a reaction, and then. . . a soft, broken wail.

  
     Richard was cautious, watching Gavin for a few moments as he sobbed freely, his hands laying against the ground, merely twitching to clutch at the Earth as his frame shook. He sounded desperate, broken, and relieved, eyes screwed shut and LED blinking yellow now, a step in the better direction. "I-I thou. . . ght," Gavin coughed, unused to making such violent noises and pressured pauses, "they hit you s-sso ha-rd, Nines. You--sniff--you only had six-sixteen pe-rcent!" Another cry, and then Gavin's LED flickered to red once, a telltale sign of his stress levels. Richard felt something pull his heart when Gavin, for the first time, used the affectionate nickname only those close to him could use. He was vulnerable, and yet, he still called to Nines for comfort.

  
     They had met in the middle, finally.

  
     Richard opened his arms, parting his legs as Gavin fought against his own injuries to scramble into Nine's embrace, sobbing hard against the firm chest, hands digging almost violently into the sweater material. If he jerked, it would rip. Richard couldn't bring it in him to care. Instead, he threaded his hand into Gavin's locks, gently combing through the mussed locks to comfort his companion. Gavin kept inhaling as he shook, trying his best to communicate the fact that Richard's small chance at survival had put the android into a traumatized state. Richard understood and rocked the android as they sat in the dirt, hushing him quietly and caressing him as he recalled his mother would do to him on a particularly pressing set of nightmares.

  
     The sniffling eased gradually, just as it would with any human. Gavin accepted this moment between them, nuzzling into Nines' warm body and expressing his worry in whimpers, to which Nines reassured with his lower octave when speaking, the deepened voice tending to provide a feeling of security. Soon, Gavin was jelly, slumped from exhaustion of emotions and his stress levels no doubt taking their toll. Nines just held him all the tighter.

  
     Together, with the help of Connor, they entered the ambulance, crowding together on the stretcher. He heard his brother instruct their father figure to start up the car, and immediately knew they'd be at the hospital before them, what a worrisome brother he had. Nines laid down as per precaution for the ride, and Gavin was seated by his knees, gripping the bar overhead and holding Nines' hand with the other, squeezing it every once and awhile for comfort, to which Richard gave an equally enthusiastic squeeze back. Richard managed to catch the android's eye, smiling faintly. "Thank you for keeping me safe, Gavin."


End file.
